Hope in the Heart of Denver

The Denver Dream Center gave away Christmas gifts to 10,000 families and 6,000 kids in need on Dec. 14 at Coors Field, the home of the Colorado Rockies major league baseball team.

Bryan S. Sederwall, 45, is the executive director and lead pastor of the Denver Dream Center. He and his wife, Joy, who coordinates kids programs at the center, pastored in Los Angeles for eight years. While in California, they became passionate about the mission and outreach of the Los Angeles Dream Center. The Sederwalls moved to Denver in 2006, and after several years of building relationships and researching the needs of the Mile-High City, they launched the Denver Dream Center in 2014.

“God’s call gives us the opportunity to build relationships, reach into the hardest places, and to offer hope in Jesus to gang members, inmates, single moms, and at-risk kids,” Sederwall says. “Transformation of the hardest neighborhoods and the most hopeless people drives us!”

Each Christmas, Sederwall and his team look for opportunities to serve Denver. Initially, the Dream Center distributed gifts to about 50 kids. That number has grown every December since. This year, the Dream Center sponsored a party at Coors Field to help facilitate dissemination of the presents. Buses brought 200 families in from low-income housing and Denver Housing Authority neighborhoods every hour.

The event featured 1,000 volunteers. Macy’s department store donated 1,500 coats. While live music played, Denver’s mayor, fire department officials, police department officials, and players from the Rockies, Denver Nuggets National Basketball Association team, and Denver Broncos American Football Conference team all made appearances. Each attendee received an invitation to the Denver Dream Center’s Christmas service on Dec. 19.

“A team follows up with each family served,” Sederwall says. “Through our youth, sports, and single moms programs, we provide areas of support and ongoing relationships.”

The outreach impressed Rocky Mountain Ministry Network Superintendent Gene Roncone.

“I am amazed at the diversity of ministers and ministries God has assembled in his spiritual arsenal to beat back the forces of evil in Colorado and Utah,” says Roncone, 53.